A New Era
by Zoo900
Summary: Twelve kids.  Four houses.  One school.  One competition.
1. Chapter 1

Part 1: Gryffindor

Chapter 1

James

James sat down at the Griffindor table and smiled briefly at Louis who sat across from him. He was more nervous than he let on. Molly, who knew how he felt, gave him a reassuring smile.

"He'll be okay, James," she said.

He nodded.

"Hey, Jamie," said Vic, mussing his hair as she passed him.

"Hey, Mrs. Lupin."

She smacked the back of his head and went to talk to Dominique.

"So, said Molly, "she finally said yes to Teddy?"

James grinned.

"That's what it looked like at the train station."

Molly smiled at Louis who rolled his eyes.

"No wonder she was so distracted this summer. Usually she can't stand being by herself, but we hardly saw her at all. She kept disappearing for hours on end and Mum wouldn't say where she was going." He glanced at his sister. "I'll have to get the whole story out of her tonight..."

Louis trailed off as the first years walked onto the stage looking very small and very nervous. James spotted Albus immediately. He was standing on the left side of the stage, about ten students from Rose. James watched his brother glance back and meet her eyes. They gave each other weak smiles. James stomach knotted up.

Albus

Albus fidgeted uncomfortably with the edge of his robes. Looking down at the Griffindor table he recognized his cousins' faces. His eyes met with James' brown ones and for once his brother didn't seem to be mocking him. He gave him a subtle thumbs up. Albus would have grinned had he not been so nervous.

"Aderly, Micheal!"

The first boy to approach the stool, was fairly nondescript: brown hair, brown eyes, average height and build. His mouth was screwed up in a nervous frown and he kept playing with his glasses. The hat was set on his head.

"RAVENCLAW!"

The boy walked down to the table clad in blue, that was cheering for him. He had a small grin on his face.

"Amison, Natalie!"

A small blond girl hurried up to take the stool.

There was a pause of a couple of seconds then, "RAVENCLAW!"

Natalie hurried down to sit at the Ravenclaw table, where she was greeted with friendly grins. She took the seat right next to Michael.

"Baddock,Maria!"

"SLITHERIN!"

"Belby, Henry!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Bell, Katherine!"

Albus knew her, vaguely, her aunt was a friend of his father.

"GRIFFINDOR!" Albus wasn't at all surprised. He watched her run down to the Griffindor table and straight to her older brother who was grinning from ear to ear.

"Corner, Jeffrey!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Daise, Cassandra!" A small girl with black hair. The hat took some time to decide, but eventually it settled on "SLITHERIN!". Cassandra walked down to the Slitherin table with an unreadable expression on her face.

"Dobbs, Tracey!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

Albus tuned out for a little while; the tension was making him feel sick. Instead he looked down at his cousins, sitting at the Griffindor table. Victoire, blond and beautiful, was sitting by her friends, watching the sorting with a small smile on her face. Boys were staring at her from all over the hall, but Albus knew that their hopes were utterly pointless; Vic hadn't even noticed their stares. Dominique was sitting next to her boyfriend, even though he was in Ravenclaw and not Griffindor. She was nearly as beautiful as her sister, but the effect was somewhat ruined by the fact that she refused to wear contacts. She was still breathtaking though. Louis sat across from James and next to Molly who was a year older than him but still his closest friend.

The name Malfoy dragged Albus' attention back to the sorting.

"Malfoy, Scorpius!" Albus felt a brief wave of pity for the boy as he stumbled forward to the stool. He looked even more nervous than Albus felt.

"SLITHERIN!" Scorpius jumped up and permitted himself a small smile as he hurried down to his table. Albus felt a little disappointed, he'd been hoping that his father had been right; that the Malfoys had changed.

"McLaggen, Julia!"

"GRIFFINDOR!"

"Orvil, Elizabeth!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

And then began the Ps. Albus felt his stomach knot up.

"Patil, Arianna!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Patil, Stephanie!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

Those two were obviously twins.

"Peaks, James!"

"GRIFFINDOR!"

"Potter, Albus!"

Albus felt his pulse accelerate and his stomach sank to his feet. Numbly, head pounding, he walked out to the stool and sat down. The hat was placed on his head.

Oh, my my my. You have quiet a mind here. Very bright. Have a lot to live up to don't you?

Albus resisted the urge to nod.

Yes.

Indeed, but you are not ashamed of that. Frightened maybe, but not ashamed. You will, I think, do well wherever I put you... yes, but I can see that you will be happy in Griffindor. So be it.

"GRIFFINDOR!"

Albus stood, a grin spreading over his face. He could hardly stop himself from running down to the table where he was first met by Molly and then Louis and finally his brother.

"Way to go, Al," said James. He clapped him on the shoulder and Albus was happier than he had ever been in his life.

He sat down between Molly and Louis and looked up at the remaining students.

"Riley, Evan!"

"SLITHERIN!"

"Runcorn, Mary!"

"GRIFFINDOR!"

"Sadree, Gregory!"

"SLITHERIN!"

"Scamander, Lorcan!"

Albus smiled at the tall boy with wild blond hair stepped forward. He moved kind of slowly, sort of like he was drifting. Lorcan had inherited his mother's odd ways. Albus had met him and his brother several times. Lily was even named after the twins' mother.

Lorcan sat on the stool with a small smile on his face. There was a few moments of silence.

"Come on, Lor," muttered Albus.

"RAVENCLAW!"

Albus nodded. It fit.

"Scamander, Lysander!"

Proffesor Sprout's brown furrowed as she read this name.

Lysander, or San as he corrected everyone who called him by his full name, stepped forward. He walked quickly to the stool and sat down. As much as he looked like his brother, Albus knew that the two of them were very different.

"RAVENCLAW!" Still, apparently they had some similarities.

"Thomas, Theodore!"

"GRIFFINDOR!"

"Towler, Jane!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Weasley, Rose!" Albus' stomach flipped again. His fists tightened.

"GRIFFINDOR!"

He relaxed and stood up to meet Rose as she ran down to the table. He hugged her. She was grinning from ear to ear. All of the cousins congratulated her and as she hugged Albus again she whispered in his ear.

"It groaned."

"What?" Albus asked her.

"The hat," she said, "I put it on my head and it just groaned and said 'oh, they're like rabbits'... What do you think it meant?"

Albus frowned and shrugged. "No idea."

They both looked up to see the last person sorted.

"Wood, Claire!"

"GRINFFINDOR!"

Rose

Professor McGonagall stood up and held up a hand for silence. Albus let Rose have his seat and went to sit next to James.

"Thank you," the Headmistress said, "I would like to welcome our new students and welcome back our old. It is my hope than you will all have a very pleasant and memorable school year. Before we eat there are a few matters I would like to discuss. One is that I must remind you that the Dark Forest is... forbidden, as always. I would recommend that new students and old students alike brush up on the school's rules and policies. The second matter is that tryouts for house quiddich teams are going to be held sometime during the third week of September, so talk to your team captain if you wish to try out. The third matter," said Professor McGonagall, "is this: it has been brought to my notice, over the last few years that a great dislike, mistrust and even hatred has formed between the four houses here at Hogworts." She paused, looking down at the students' curious faces. "I'm not saying that a little friendly rivalry is in any way a bad thing, but respect for all of our students, no matter what house they belong to, is crucial in order for us to provide a learning environment that is both pleasant and safe for everyone."

Rose looked around to see if anyone else was following this. Albus was watching the Headmistress intently, but James, Molly and Louis seemed to be paying no attention whatsoever.

"So," said McGonagall, "with that in mind, the heads of houses and I have decided to put a new system into place." A murmur ran through the entire hall as people heard this and wondered what it could possibly mean. Especially the older students, who were intensely loyal to their houses, were frowning. "We will be holding a competition this year. It will require bravery, cunning, knowledge, hard work, proficiency at your grade level work and most importantly teamwork. Everyone will be required to participate. All teams will compete with the other teams in their year."

Talk erupted in the Great Hall, forcing McGonagall to raise her voice. "Teams will be assigned," she said, causing a disappointed hush to fall over the students. "However, as I and your teachers understand that you will be spending a good amount of time with your team mates, we will do our best to pick carefully. And one last thing," the Headmistress said, with something as close to an evil glint as anyone had ever seem in her eye, "each team will consist of one Griffindor, one Ravenclaw, one Hufflepuff and one Slitherin."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

James

The hall was deathly silent. Proffesor McGonagall took her seat and all of the staff watched the students' reactions with keen amusement.

The food appeared on the tables, but no one so much as touched it; they were all staring at McGonagall. Eventually it became clear to everyone that she was not going to take back what she had said. There was no "ha ha, just kidding"; this was really happening.

James turned to his cousins and his brother.

"This is a nightmare," he said, running his hand through his hair.

"Really?" said Rose, "I don't think it's that bad; I think she's right. We really should learn to work together and get along." Rose fell quiet as the three older students all stared at her with their mouths open. Only Albus seemed to be considering what she'd said.

"No, Rosie," said James, shaking his head, "it'll be a disaster; you'll see.

Rose frowned, but didn't argue with him. She met Albus' gaze and saw him shrug slightly.

James saw Louis staring over his shoulder and turned around to see what his was looking at. A very pretty girl at the Hufflepuff table was laughing and leaning on her friends shoulder.

"Hoping Hailey will be on your team, Louis?" James teased. Louis blushed and looked down at his plate. He started dishing out steak for himself and didn't answer. James grinned, knowing he'd guessed right. He himself let his gaze run over the other three tables, looking for no one in particular. His eyes paused on the back of a small blond kid's head and he frowned. Scorpius, he didn't like the look of the kid. Plus, he was in Slitherin and James knew from experience that all Slitherins were unpleasant to be around. This competition was looking to be an horrible business altogether.

Albus

Albus ate heartily and listened to his cousins chat, discussing classes and teachers.

"We've got charms first thing tomorrow," put in Rose.

"Yes." Molly nodded. "I think you'll like Charms, Rosie."

"Me too," she agreed, "I read part of the text book on the train; it's very interesting. Is the teacher any good?"

Albus rolled his eyes slightly. Yes, she had indeed read a good half of the charms book on the train ride. Continually shushing him when he tried to start a conversation. Even he, geeky ol' Albus, didn't have that sort of attention span.

He heard a chuckle and looked up to see James grinning at him. He smiled and shoved more mashed potatoes in his mouth.

Rose

"First years this way! First years! Griffindors! First year Griffindors this way!"

Rose snagged Albus' hand so that they wouldn't get separated in the crowd and wiggled her way toward Victoire's voice. She smiled as she caught sight of them and continued to call out to the other students.

"So, what do you think so far?" Rose asked Albus, releasing his hand as they both followed Vic up a flight of stairs. Albus clutched at the railing as the staircase began to move. Rose just braced her feet and waited for an answer.

"It's... different," he finally said. "Overwhelming."

She nodded in agreement.

"Very."

They reached the common rooms and waited patiently with the group of about a dozen eleven-year-olds as the rest of the students cleared out.

"Alright," said Vic, "The boys are up that way; your common room is marked 1st Years. Breakfast starts at six tomorrow, so make sure you're there in time to eat. Girls, you just follow me."

"Well," said Rose, "Goodnight." She hugged Albus and followed Vic up the staircase to the girls' dormitories.

"Night," she heard Albus mutter behind her.

"Alright, girls," said Vic, stopping in front of the first years' dorm, "You heard what I said: breakfast starts at six so be up. Have a good first night!"

The girls filed into their dorm and Rose waited to go last. She gave Victoire a hug and followed a small brown haired girl through the door.

Rose found her trunk at the foot of one of the four-poster beds. She sat down and smiled at the girl next to her.

"I'm Rose," she said, "Rose Weasley."

"Nice to meet you," the girl said shyly, "I'm Mary."

Everyone else introduced themselves.

"So what do you guys think of the school?" asked Julia MacLaggan, a loud boisterous girl who was friends with Mary.

"I think it's great," said Katie.

Rose nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I can't wait to start lessons. Mr. Olivander said my wand was good for charms and that's what we have first thing tomorrow!"

Julia pulled out her own wand.

"Nine and a half inches, cherry, and dragon heartstring, How 'bout you?" She looked at Rose.

Rose got her wand out of her trunk and waved it around a bit.

"Nine inches, vine and unicorn hair." She climbed back onto her bed. She lay on her stomach facing toward everyone else.

Claire and Katie copied her, pulling out their own wands.

Julia toyed with the paper lining of her wand case.

"Hey, do you think I could get this to change color?" she asked.

"Let's try!" said Rose, sitting up.

"You know, we should probably got to bed..." said Claire, "We've got class in the morning."

Rose ignored her and sat down next to Julia on her bed.

"Do think that would be considered transfiguration or charms?" she asked, picking up her text books.

"I'm going to bed!" said Claire loudly.

"I think I will too," said Mary, glancing at Julia.

Katie bit her lip and came to sit by Rose.

"I think I know the spell actually," she said, "It's like 'ardurvisum' or something..."

Julia touched the tip of her wand to the light pink paper.

"Ardurvisum."

There was a blinding flash of light and all three girls shrieked. They scrambled off the bed.

Rose blinked rapidly at the lights in front of her eyes. In her peripheral vision she caught sight of the paper burning on the bed.

"Aguamenti!" she yelped. A jet of water shot from her wand, dousing the paper as well as Julia's bed.

The three girls stood, panting and blinking. Claire was sitting bolt upright in her bed. In the silence that followed her lay back down and pulled up the sheets. Mary stood in the doorway, leaning against the frame.

"Well, that was interesting," said Rose, her eyes still wide.

"My bed is completely wet!" said Julia, poking at it.

"I'll find the spell for you to dry it off; it's in the charms text book," said Rose, suddenly tired.

"I think you should probably do it, Rose," said Katie, shaking her head.

Rose sighed and fetched her damp text book.

This is going to be a very interesting year, she thought.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

James

"Do you think they're really gonna be able to pull off a inter-house competition?" James wondered.

He stared up at the ceiling of the dorm, laying on his back in his bed. It was dark in their dorm, but he couldn't sleep; he was too excited. There was a pause before Louis answered.

"You mean without fatalities?"

"Yeah," said James, "I mean this rivalry goes back all the way to the founders... last year the quidditch teams nearly killed each other!"

"That's probably the reason they're doing it," Louis said dryly.

"To make us kill each other?"

"No," said Louis, rolling over in his bed, "to keep the rivalry from getting any worse; they're trying to prevent us from killing each other."

James yawned.

"Is anybody else awake?" he asked. There was a groan in the general direction of Samuel Jordan's bed. "Sam?"

"Wha?" The reply was thick and muffled with sleep.

"Do you think the teachers will be able to pull it off?"

There was no answer.

James yawned again and his eyes fell shut. By the time he remembered that he was waiting for a response he wasn't sure how much time had passed.

"Louis, I'm going to breakfast!" James shouted into the bathroom.

"'Kay!"

James tromped down the stairs with his book bag slung over his shoulder. It was very early and the common room was, as yet, empty. Wait, no, there was somebody there.

"Al? What are you doing up this early?"

Albus jumped up from an armchair, slamming his transfiguration text book closed.

"Nothing," he muttered, "nervous."

"Well, okay," said James, "Make sure you're not late to charms," he said sarcastically, "It starts in an hour and a half, you know."

"I know," said Albus, not picking up the sarcasm.

James rolled his eyes.

He ducked out of the common room and into the hall.

Breakfast was already out when he reached the Great Hall. There were a few people there including Dominique who was a habitual early riser. She was sitting at the Ravenclaw table, although her boyfriend was nowhere to be seen.

"Morning, Dom," James said cheerfully.

She looked up from the book she was reading and smiled.

"Morning, James." Dominique was the only one of his cousins that didn't insist on calling him Jamie. James was grateful for this. He hates being called Jamie; it sounded like a girl's name.

"Watch 'ya reading?" He asked sitting down next to her and serving himself some scrambled eggs.

"Devine Divination for Dummies," said Dominique, "Its the newest addition."

James sighed. "You're even worse than Al," he complained.

Dominique raised an eyebrow. "What has Al done?"

"I came downstairs this morning and he was in the common room reading his transfiguration text book. I didn't even read that thing for homework if I could help it!"

Dominique smiled.

"Some people actually care about school, James," she said, pouring herself some tea.

"I care about school," said James grumpily.

"For reasons other than quidditch," said Dom. James didn't reply. "Speaking of quidditch," said Dominique, setting down her book, "Are you going to try out for the team this year?"

James face lit up.

"Oh yeah!" he said, "Definitely."

"What position?" Dominique asked, taking a sip of her tea. Her blue eyes were shinning behind her glasses.

"Chaser," said James, "That's what I always play at home, so I figure that's the position I'll have the best chance at."

Dominique nodded.

"That makes sense."

James spotted Louis across the hall and stood up.

"There's Louis," he said, "gotta go."

"See you around," said Dominique

Albus

Albus took a deep breath, trying to calm his jittery nerves. He reached for his charms text book and then yanked his hand back. Reading everything beforehand was not going to help.

"Albus, you'll be fine," said Rose, "I swear."

She was sitting across from him, leaning on an elbow and stirring her oatmeal, but not eating it.

"Are you alright?" Albus asked her.

"Yeah," she said, sitting up straighter.

She looked kind of tired.

"You should eat that," Albus recommended.

Rose put a spoonful in her mouth and chewed slowly.

"Rosie, it's our first day at school! You should be excited! What's up?"

She gave him a small smile.

"I'm alright, Albus. Really. I just didn't get enough sleep last night."

"Oh," said Albus.

Rose spooned some more brown sugar on her oatmeal and began eating it.

"Hey, Rose," said Katie, sliding into the seat next to her. "Morning, Albus."

"Hi," Albus muttered, suddenly shy. He started eating his pancakes, even though his stomach turned nervously. He checked his watch again. "Let's go, Rosie," he said, standing up, "I don't want to be late..."

Rose checked her own watch.

"We've got twenty-five minutes, Al."

"I know," said Albus, "but what if we get lost?" He jumped up and down on the balls of his feet nervously. "I really don't want to be late!"

"I'll go with you," said Katie, standing up, "I'm not really hungry anyway."

"Students!" a voice called from the staff table, "May I have your attention!" Katie and Al both turned to look back. Talk slowly died down. "You are all required to stay after dinner this evening for the assigning of teams, so please plan accordingly. Thank you." She sat back down.

Albus watched her for a moment, listening to the unhappy mutterings of his classmates.

"Albus," said Katie, "Did you want to go?"

"Yeah, let's go."

Rose

When Rose got to class Albus was already there, sitting on the far left next to Katie. Rose smiled to herself as she took the seat that Katie had saved for her.

"See," she said, "I told you we wouldn't be late if we waited."

Albus shrugged and Katie giggled.

Rose huffed as she took her seat, but she smiled too.

"Hey! You! Yeah, you! You can't leave yet." Vic let out an annoyed breath. "You'd think they'd realize that the teachers are actually serious about this," she said to Rose.

"That's probably why they are trying to run while they have the chance," muttered James.

At that moment all off the dinner dishes disappeared and the muttered quieted as everyone turned to look up at the staff table. Professor McGonagall stood up and waited for the hall to fall silent.

"Thank you," she said, "I hope to get this done in a quick and orderly fashion. We'll be starting with the Seventh year Gryffindors, then Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin. We'll be working our way down by year from there. Can I have all of the seventh year Gryffindors come line up here, please."

There was a shuffling of feet and murmuring as a dozen young men and women shuffle onto the stage and stood in a ragged line.

"Spread out please," said McGonagall. When she had each student standing about five feet from the next she turned back to the rest of the hall. "Alright I'm going to start with Ms. Weasley here, the three names I call will be the members of team 1. I want you to come up here and stand together until I've finished, is that clear?"

There were a couple of whistles from across the hall, but Vic's expression didn't even twitch.

"Alright, let us begin."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

James

The sorting of the teams was utterly boring if you weren't the one being sorted, in James' opinion. His name wasn't called and wasn't called until the last fourth year Ravenclaw was standing all alone. He had to be on her team, it was the only one left. He noted internally that what little he knew of the other girl was positive, could be worse anyhow. He looked around, but in the crowd, he couldn't tell which fourth years were left.

"Team 63: Margaret Orvil, Patrick Feeder, Samantha Wise and James Potter."

James stood up quickly and made his way across the hall to join his group.

The Hufflepuff, Patrick, reach the front of the hall a few paces ahead of him. James saw him grin at Maggie who smiled back.

"Hey, Pat!" she said.

"Maggie!" he said cheerfully.

"Maggie," said James, approaching them. He nodded to Pat.

"James," she said, politely, giving him a small smile.

Albus

Albus watched his brother as he greeted his teammates. They seemed to be on fairly friendly terms with each other, with the exception of the Slitherin girl who just nodded stiffly when the Ravenclaw girl smiled at her.

The looked around uncomfortably and then made their way over to a table to sit down together.

They didn't speak as McGonagall called all the Hufflepuff first years up to the front. Albus didn't really know any of them very well, as he'd only had two classes with Hufflepuff today. He listened carefully as names were called.

He was in group sixty-nine. He hurried to the front to join a small girl with bushy, honey blond hair. She smiled at him cheerfully and they both turned to watch the two other members of their team approach.

"Albus!"

Albus grinned as Lysander approached.

"San!" he said, relieved to have at least one person on his team that he was familiar with.

The Slitherin girl who followed right behind San was tiny compared to his tall lanky body. Shy had black shoulder length hair and looked distinctly unhappy to be their.

"I'm Sophia," said the Ravenclaw with honey hair, she stuck out her hand.

Albus shook it awkwardly,

"Albus," he said.

"Potter," she said. "I remember." She turned to San.

"Scamander," she said. "I'm sorry I can't tell you from your brother."

San laughed.

"I'm Lysander," he said, "But call me San."

"San." She nodded. "And your Cassandra, right?" she turned to the other girl, who nodded stiffly, her lips still pursed in a frown.

"We should go sit down," Albus said after a moment.

"Right," said Sophia. "How 'bout over there." She pointed to an empty set of seats at the Hufflepuff table."

Albus shrugged.

"Good as any."

Rose

"Group 72: Arianna Patil, Scorpius Malfoy, Rose Weasley and Micheal Aderly," Called Proffesor McGonagall.

Rose looked around for her team mates as she made her way up toward the front. Arianna Patil was a little taller than her, with long black hair and dark skin. She gave Rose was might have been an attempt at a smile. Rose smiled at her, feeling surprisingly nervous as she turned so that she was facing the rest of the hall. Scorpius Malfoy was approaching them, his blond head ducked down so that his hair fell in his face. He didn't look at either of the girls as he stopped next to them. Micheal was small compared to the other three. He short brown hair and glasses my him look like the studious type. He gave all three of them a shaky smile and pushed his glasses up his nose nervously.

Rose shifted her weight from one foot to the other.

"I'm Rose," she said to her team mates awkwardly. She turned to the tall girl next to her.

"I'm Ari," the girl said.

"Nice to meet you," said Rose politely. She turned to the boys. "I don't think I've met either of you..."

"I'm Mike," the small boy whispered.

Rose gave him a bracing smile.

"Nice to meet you," she said. "And you're..." She turned to Scorpius. He glanced up quickly and then looked down again. Just then a movement at the the Ravenclaw table caught her eye. James was sitting up straight his whole form rigid. His eyes were locked on her but he didn't react when her eyes met his. Maybe it wasn't her her cousin was staring at so intently. No, it was Scorpius. James' brown eyes flickered to hers briefly before he looked away. He didn't look too happy.

Rose resisted a sigh as she looked at the blond boy standing to her left. This was going to be a interesting year.


End file.
